BioMax™ Dual Action + amplifies late-season vine root development and beneficial soil microbial activity

In the fall, vineyard management focuses on harvest and then preparing the vines for winter. But this is also an ideal time to given attention to the late season needs of roots and the biosphere to amplify root development and beneficial soil microbial activity in order to improve nutrient foraging and uptake.

A natural increase in soil microbial populations and activity occurs as climate conditions moderate late in the growing season and into fall. This microbial increase also coincides with a vine’s late season root growth cycle. These two processes work in concert and benefit one another by improving both soil and plant health.

Plant roots naturally exude carbohydrates and organic acid compounds that feed bacteria and mycorrhizae. In return, these organisms help solubilize soil nutrients for root uptake and help protect root health. The unique formulation of BioMax™ Dual Action + can amplify this symbiotic process, helping to increase both beneficial microbial activity and root growth.

BioMax™ Dual Action + provides many late season benefits to grape vines by:

• Amplifying beneficial microbial populations to increase overall nutrient cycling and availability
• Amplifying late season root growth to increase nutrient foraging and uptake capability
• Amplifying beneficial microbial activity to improve soil tilth – (moisture penetration, moisture retention, and soil aeration) – leading to increased soil health
• Maximizing the value of late-season irrigation or rain fall
• Enhancing long-term vine growth, health and productivity
• Improving new plant establishment and shortening time to bearing

BioMax™ Dual Action + is a powerful multi-faceted soil fertilizer – part microbial food source, part root development agent, part micronutrient, and part soil conditioner:

• A fermentation derived food source directly feeds beneficial bacteria and fungi.
• A uniquely formulated seaweed extract directly feeds and encourages root development.
• EDTA zinc and manganese supply key micronutrients needed in the preferred soil-available form to maximize root growth and health.
• A soil conditioning agent ensures that BioMax™ Dual Action + penetrates into the rhizosphere where it can be most effective.

All these benefits complement traditional late-season vineyard management practices and contribute to the desired robust start when spring arrives.

Apply late-season to spur spring response

BioMax™ Dual Action + promotes a larger, stronger root mass that is more effective at foraging for nutrients and moisture to produce, size and finish a high-quality grape crop. A late-season application of BioMax™ Dual Action + coincides with the normal fall root flush that vines experience to recover from the stresses of the season’s production and to increase nutrient uptake for over-wintering.

This flushing process ensures the vine has sufficient nutrient reserves for next spring when root function is limited in cool and wet soils. Applications of BioMax™ Dual Action + late in the growing season or at early fall in conjunction last irrigation and as part of a robust fertility program can help optimize next spring’s early-season awakening, shoot growth and bud break.

Increased microbial populations and activity also improve the efficiency of ground applied fertilizers so growers get optimum value for their fall fertility investment.

A dynamic, powerful nutrition partnering

BioMax™ is Agro-K’s fermentation-based soil fertilizer containing enzymes, fermentation co-factors and micronutrients that together constitute a complex microbial food source which stimulates and increases native, existing beneficial aerobic bacteria and soil fungi such as mycorrhizae. BioMax™ contains no humic acid or living microbial agents.

BioMax™ Dual Action + delivers more consistent and more cost effect result than living inoculants (“bugs-in-a-jug”). Instead, BioMax™ targets and feeds naturally existing bacteria and fungi already present in the soil environment. Pre-packaged “living” soil biological products are cultured in sterile environments and are not adapted to a grower’s specific soil, vine and environmental conditions. This can limit the longevity and effectiveness of those packaged microbes.

Living microbial products also may require specific storage conditions and often have a limited shelf life, all of which can result in inconsistent performance in the vineyard. In addition, the per-acre cost of living microbial additives is a bottom-line consideration.

Vine health is enhanced by directly feeding the soil biology. BioMax™ Dual Action + increases populations and diversity of beneficial microbes that compete against and help promote an environment that is less hospitable for anaerobic and pathogenic organisms. Vigorous root systems are better able to mobilize the plant’s own natural protective systems.

The companion aspect within BioMax™ Dual Action + is Agro-K’s proprietary seaweed extract technology designed to promote root growth, vine growth, and overall vine health.

Agro-K’s seaweed products are the result of more than three decades of experience perfecting seaweed formulations for targeted agricultural use. Agro-K’s unique soil seaweed blend, which includes species like ascophyllym nodosum, goes through a unique stabilization manufacturing process that helps preserve and maximize key metabolites to create a potent soil fertilizer promoting root growth, development and function.

This “dual” strategy combining Agro-K’s fermentation soil microbial food source technology, along with Agro-K’s seaweed-based root growth promoting technology, creates a powerful nutritional tool for producing stellar grape crops.

A new partner for Agro-K’s grapevine nutrition program

BioMax™ Dual Action + is best used as part of Agro-K’s comprehensive, plant physiology-based grapevine nutrition program. These foliar products can be used prescriptively when soil and/or tissue tests indicate specific nutrient imbalances, or proactively when stages of development such as shoot elongation, bud break, bloom, and veraison are known to trigger peak demand for certain nutrients.

Sysstem® Series, Vigor and Dextro-Lac® products provide essential nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, manganese, zinc and iron in formulations that provide optimum value and performance geared to specific vineyard needs. These Agro-K products are compatible with most other foliar crop inputs, including customary applications for pest and disease control. Agro-K’s exclusive Sysstem® Series products leverage the unique properties of phosphites to rapidly penetrate plant tissue, move throughout the vine’s vascular system, and stimulate beneficial responses. Agro-K’s Vigor process adds additional value and performance using a proprietary biological finishing technique that improves plant response.

Helping grapevines and growers cope and succeed

As has been true for nearly 40 years, Agro-K continues to provide the nutrition programs, strategies, and products growers can trust to optimize yield and quality. Many of the Agro-K products are used prescriptively by vineyards to help vines recover from the damage and stress caused by hail, frost, or herbicide drift, or problems with elevated water pH.

The recent focus of Agro-K research and development has included a response to the climate and production challenges facing vineyards today. One result is this new BioMax™ Dual Action + nutrition program supporting the use of both soil-applied and foliar feeding technologies.

Contact Agro-K to learn more about BioMax™ Dual Action + and find a nearby dealer.

BioMax™ Dual Action +

Science-Driven Nutrition SM

Sysstem Series and Dextro-Lac are registered trademarks and BioMax is a trademark of Agro-K Corporation.

© 2015 Agro-K Corporation.